The seafaring restaurant Baratie was especially lively that day.
Not because of customers, but because of-war.
A massive fleet of fifty warships surrounded the Baratie. On the flagship, a giant man in golden armor and a horned helmet stood at the bow. He was one of the overlords of the East Blue-Don Krieg.
"Zeff! Hand over all your food and treasure! Otherwise, I'll turn this place into a death zone with poison gas shells!"
Krieg's voice carried across the sea through a loudspeaker.
Inside the Baratie, head chef Zeff looked grim. One of his legs was a wooden prosthesis, but his imposing presence had not diminished at all.
"Krieg, you just lost to that Straw Hat kid, and you still have the nerve to come here and throw your weight around?"
"Shut up!" Krieg roared. "That was just a fluke! Now I have a new weapon-MH5 poison gas shells! Just one can kill every living thing within a kilometer!"
He raised a green shell marked with a skull.
The restaurant's chefs went pale. Most were retired sailors who weren't afraid of fighting, but poison gas... there was no defending against that.
The young sous-chef Sanji held a cigarette between his lips, his eyes cold. "Old man, let me take him out."
"No." Zeff shook his head. "Krieg himself isn't much, but his fleet has a few skilled fighters, especially that combatant called Gin. He's no pushover."
"We can't just sit here and wait to die, can we?"
As the two sides faced off, a ship approached from the distance.
Its figurehead looked like a burning fist, and its sail bore the Double D Flag.
The Flame Emperor.
"Hmm? Another one coming to die?" Krieg turned to look, then burst out laughing. "Perfect! I'll deal with you too!"
On the Flame Emperor's deck, Lin Yan looked at the fifty warships and the surrounded Baratie, then sighed.
"How do I run into trouble everywhere I go?"
Ace rubbed his hands together. "Let me handle it this time, big brother! Fifty ships-that's enough for a good burn!"
"No rush." Lin Yan raised a hand. "Let's see what's going on first."
He leaped onto the mast and unleashed his Observation Haki to its fullest, sensing the entire battlefield.
Krieg's fleet: roughly two thousand people in total, mostly small fry, but a few had stronger presences-Gin, the Demon Man; Baru, the Iron Wall; and several gunners.
The Baratie: Zeff, a former pirate whose strength was roughly equivalent to a Marine Rear Admiral; Sanji, who was still very weak; and the other chefs.
And... something was lurking beneath the sea.
Lin Yan frowned and looked underwater. A massive shadow was slowly rising there.
"A Sea King? No... a ship?"
Boom-!!!
A menacingly shaped submarine burst out of the water and floated on the surface. Its hull was painted purple, with a venomous snake emblem on its side.
The submarine's hatch opened, and someone wearing a protective suit and gas mask walked out, holding a remote control.
"Captain Krieg, MH5 is ready," the person said hoarsely. "We can fire at any time."
Krieg laughed wildly. "Good! Fire! Take out that new ship first!"
The person pressed the button.
The submarine's gun turned and aimed at the Flame Emperor.
Whoosh-!
A green shell shot out and burst in midair, turning into a dense green cloud of poison that swept toward the Flame Emperor.
"Poison gas!" Sanji cried out aboard the Baratie. "Those bastards!"
Ace prepared to burn away the poisonous mist, but Lin Yan stopped him.
"Let me."
Lin Yan took a deep breath, his chest swelling, and then-
Whoosh-!!!
What he exhaled wasn't fire, but a raging gale! The wind swept up all the poisonous mist. Then Lin Yan opened his mouth and inhaled, actually sucking every last bit into his stomach!
"What?!" Everyone was stunned.
After swallowing the poisonous mist, Lin Yan's expression remained unchanged. Instead, he burped, releasing a wisp of green smoke from his mouth.
[Highly toxic substance detected: MH5 nerve gas] [Plague Fire trait activated: analyzing toxins...] [Analysis complete: composition is a modified version of sarin gas; lethal dose: 0.1 milligrams] [Beginning conversion: poison gas → energy] [Conversion successful. Acquired: poison flame reserves (can release flames infused with neurotoxins)]
A cold gleam flashed through Lin Yan's eyes.
"Krieg, your poison gas... tastes pretty good."
He opened his mouth, and an eerie green light glowed deep in his throat.
"Now, you can have it back."
"Poison Flame Breath-!!!"
Boom-!!!
A pillar of green fire five meters in diameter erupted from Lin Yan's mouth, instantly crossing hundreds of meters and striking Krieg's flagship!
The fire wasn't scorching hot-it was lethally poisonous! The instant the green flames touched the hull, the wood didn't burn. Instead, it rapidly decayed and broke down into black slime!
Even more terrifyingly, the nerve gas within the flames spread. After inhaling it, Krieg's men foamed at the mouth and collapsed in convulsions.
"W-what is this?!" Krieg backed away in terror, but even his golden armor began to corrode.
"Captain! Jump into the sea!" Gin rushed over and shoved Krieg aside, but the poisonous flames grazed his own left arm.
Hiss-!
Gin's left arm was instantly reduced to bare bone, and then even the bone crumbled to ash.
"Aah-!!!" Gin screamed, but stubbornly remained conscious, gritting his teeth as he tore off some clothing to bandage the wound.
Lin Yan stopped breathing fire and looked at Krieg's devastated fleet. Of its fifty ships, twenty had already been caught in the poisonous flames, leaving the pirates aboard dead or injured.
"A demon... you're a demon!" Krieg slumped to the deck, mentally broken.
Using Geppo, Lin Yan walked onto the Baratie's roof and looked down at Krieg.
"When you were slaughtering civilians with poison gas, why didn't you think you were a demon?"
Zeff walked up beside Lin Yan and said gravely, "Young man, thank you for your help. But... there's been too much killing."
Lin Yan glanced at him. "Head chef Zeff, you were a pirate. You should understand-mercy to the wicked is cruelty to the good. If I weren't here today, you, your chefs, and this restaurant would all have perished in the poison gas."
Zeff fell silent, unable to refute him.
Sanji walked over and offered Lin Yan a cigarette. "Your methods were a little ruthless, but you did save our lives. Thanks."
Lin Yan took the cigarette but didn't smoke it. Instead, he rubbed his fingers together, lit it with a flame, and handed it back to Sanji. "I don't smoke. You can have it."
Sanji paused, then took the lit cigarette and drew deeply on it. "You're strong. Much stronger than that Straw Hat kid."
"Luffy is still growing," Lin Yan said. "In three years, he'll surpass me as I am now."
"You know Straw Hat?"
"He's my little brother."
Sanji's pupils contracted. "Another big brother? How many big brothers does that kid have?"
Lin Yan smiled. "Four that are currently known."
Sabo, Ace, himself, and... never mind, no spoilers.
Just then, Krieg suddenly sprang up and pulled a button from inside his armor.
"Let's all die together! I've activated the self-destruct mechanisms on every warship! In ten minutes, this place will be blown to pieces!"
Laughing wildly, he jumped into the sea-with his golden armor on, he couldn't sink. Instead, it served as a life jacket.
Lin Yan frowned and sensed with his Observation Haki. Sure enough, mechanical whirring came from the bottom of every warship.
Fifty ships exploding at once would be powerful enough to destroy the Baratie and every ship nearby.
"Ace!"
"Here!"
"Deal with the bombs. Use intense heat to melt the detonators directly."
"Got it!"
Ace leaped into the sky and raised both hands high as flames gathered furiously.
"Flame Emperor: Solar Storm!"
He spread his hands to either side, firing countless rays of flame that struck the bottom of every warship with precision. The intense heat instantly melted the cores of the self-destruct mechanisms, disabling the bombs.
But one vessel remained-the poison gas submarine, which was quietly sinking, preparing to escape.
Lin Yan's gaze turned cold, and he curled his right hand around empty air.
"Trying to run?"
"Flame Emperor Body: Flame Grab."
The seawater suddenly boiled. An enormous flaming hand a hundred meters in diameter reached up from the seabed, grasped the entire submarine, and lifted it into the air!
The poison gas expert inside pounded on the porthole in terror, but it was no use.
"Something this dangerous shouldn't exist in this world."
Lin Yan closed his five fingers.
Boom-!!!
The submarine was crushed apart, rupturing every poison gas tank inside. But before the gas could spread, the flaming hand's intense heat purified it completely.
The crisis was over.
Lin Yan withdrew his flames and landed back on the Baratie's deck.
Zeff bowed solemnly. "Words of thanks aren't enough for such a great favor. From today onward, the seafaring restaurant Baratie will always be a friend to the Flame Emperor Pirates. You can eat here free for life."
"Then I'll gladly accept," Lin Yan said with a smile. "I'm hungry anyway. Bring us some specialties."
"No problem! Sanji, go get everything ready!"
"Yes!"
An hour later, the Flame Emperor's crew and the Baratie's chefs sat together, enjoying a lavish feast.
Ace ate with grease all around his mouth. "Delicious! Even better than Makino's cooking!"
Sanji held a cigarette between his lips and said proudly, "Of course. I'm the man who's going to find the All Blue."
Lin Yan looked at Sanji and suddenly asked, "Sanji, do you want to get stronger?"
Sanji paused. "What do you mean?"
"Your kicks have a lot of potential, but you lack systematic training," Lin Yan said. "I know someone whose kicking skills rank among the best in the world. If you're willing, I can introduce you so you can train with him."
"Who?"
"'Red-Leg' Zeff's kicking skills are only the foundation. The truly top-tier fighter is the Revolutionary Army's chief instructor-the 'Okama King,' Ivankov."
The cigarette fell from Sanji's mouth. "The O-Okama King?!"
"He may have an eccentric personality, but his strength is beyond question," Lin Yan said. "And he has special training methods that can greatly improve your physical abilities."
Sanji hesitated. Of course he was interested in getting stronger, but the Okama King...
Zeff patted his shoulder. "Go, Sanji. A man should set his sights on the world, not stay trapped in this little restaurant."
Sanji was silent for a long time before finally nodding. "All right! I'll go!"
Lin Yan took out a Vivre Card-Sabo had given it to him when he contacted the Revolutionary Army through special channels while in the Drum Kingdom.
"Take this to the Kamabakka Kingdom on the Grand Line, and Ivankov will see you. Remember, the training will be brutal, but once you endure it, you'll be qualified to pursue your dream of finding the All Blue."
"Thank you." Sanji solemnly accepted it.
The feast continued.
Just then, a Marine warship entered those waters.
Smoker stood at the bow, staring coldly at the distant Baratie and Flame Emperor, where the celebration was underway.
"Finally... found you."
"Flame Emperor, today is your last day."
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